Den syriske opposisjonen hevder at Assad-regimet har angrepet østlige bydeler i Damaskus med giftgass og drept 1.300 mennesker. Hvis opplysningene stemmer kan det få konsekvenser for bl.a USAs syn og holdning.

Gass står fortsatt i en klasse for seg, og Barack Obama har tidligere uttalt at gass er en rød linje. Gass skal ha vært brukt, men i små angrep, og av begge parter, påstås det. Det har gjort det vanskelig for USA å agere, men et større angrep kan endre dette.

George Sabra, deputy head of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, said at a news conference that 1,300 people were killed as shells rained down on the capital’s eastern suburbs of Douma, Jobar, Zamalka, Arbeen and Ein Tarma.

 

The opposition Local Coordination Committees said hundreds of people were killed or injured in the shelling, and a nurse at a health center in Douma put the death toll at 213.

«Many of the casualties are women and children. They arrived with their pupil dilated, cold limbs and foam in their mouths,» nurse Bayan Baker told the Reuters news agency. «The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims,» she said.

 

Videos uploaded to social networking websites showed dozens of dead people lying on pavements and inside buildings, their bodies showing no obvious signs of injury. In one video allegedly shot in the Ghouta area, where all the suburbs allegedly targeted are located, at least a dozen young children’s bodies were lined up on the floor.

 

Other videos showed toddlers convulsing and foaming from the mouth as people tried to wash their faces with bottled water. None of the videos could be independently verified.